UPDATE: Problem solved.

Travis’ laptop is hot hot hot! 200°F during games and 160°F while idle. When he complained to tech support, they told him to buy a cooling mat. The laptop was so hot, it broke the cooling mat. He wants a replacement or repair but is now out of warranty warranty warranty! Is there any hope? His letter, inside…

Travis writes:

Hey,

I was wondering what the best way to get my problem fixed would be, and if you had any ideas or advice on how to fix this problem.

I have a Hp Pavilion Dv8000t, it is about 2 years old, now out of warranty, around $2500 and about ready to die. I contacted HP when I still had the warranty about a heat issue. It runs around 160 degrees F. on idle, and can get over 200F during games. I recently had a tech guy from another pc company come out to my house to fix a problem with another pc of mine and he checked out my laptop and said that it was unsafe to use. It was running dangerously hot and was a safety hazard. That the screen is bad also, has about 14 vertical lines on it. I also contacted HP about that while the system was under warranty. Hp’s response was to buy a $30 chill mat for my laptop to solve the cooling problems. Well… I tried, that didn’t work and the laptop broke the cooling mat. When I am using my laptop, I make sure that the fan and vent are not blocked. HP doesn’t want to fix my laptop now. I was never informed that the warranty was expiring in X amount of months, and now that it is expired they know about these problems and wont let me get the system under warranty. I am trying to get the laptop replaced. The overheating and running hot has severely messed up the insides of the laptop.

Do you think it would be a good idea to also contact the BBB, FTC, and my local news company too?

Thanks,
Travis

To be honest, the onus is on you as the consumer to keep track of when your warranty expires. It’s unfortunate that their laminated 3-ring binder’s answer to what was obviously a major problem was to buy a chill mat, and that you didn’t pursue repair options within the warranty period. The only I can think to do right now is send an EECB and use the tech supports’ disingenuous solution to an obvious defect as reason for a replacement, or at least a warranty repair. Perhaps you’ll grab their attention if you compare it to someone bleeding from their jugular being told to buy a box of tissues.

UPDATE: A couple of commenters have already chimed in to say that if you opened a tech ticket and the problem was never solved, you can still get HP to fix it even though it’s out of warranty. First try calling them and reminding them of this, and if that doesn’t work, filing a BBB complaint should prod them towards solving it.

(Photo: emilybean)

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